3 ms·
The article makes the mistake of comparing bleeding edge research of the 50's to modern commonplace technology. Yes we had computers in the 50's, but we didn't
by mixmax 17y ago
The article makes the mistake of comparing bleeding edge research of the 50's to modern commonplace technology. Yes we had computers in the 50's, but we didn't have one in every home and office. And none of them ran excel or World of warcraft. Similar arguments can be made with the rest of his examples.
If you want a real comparison you should look at todays bleeding edge technology or the commonday technologies of the 50's.
- ojbyrne 17y agoA good point. It could be argued that with the arrival of computers and microprocessors, much of the progress of the human race became software, rather than hardware, based. He mentions Lisp, but that's just a language. 3D graphics, WIMP, OOP, the internet, and so on are all later than 1959.
- bsaunder 17y agoIt's clear from the article that he has no idea what defines current bleeding edge (I think this is true for the general populace).
- sophacles 17y agoI was thinking something similar. Things like biotech (GM food being the biggest day to day change) aren't even mentioned.
- jimbokun 17y agoWell? Is biotech a significant, qualitative improvement to our lives compared to what we had in the 1950s? Has it contributed to overall better nutrition and health, or even in better tasting food?
- sp332 17y agoGolden Rice? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golden_rice#Golden_rice_and_vitamin_A_deficiency http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golden_rice#Golden_rice_and_vit...
- sophacles 17y agoIt has contributed to fewer people starving. That may or may not affect our life, but it certainly affects many lives.
- jimbokun 17y ago"And none of them ran excel or World of warcraft." His argument is that Excel and World of Warcraft are not much of a qualitative improvement over life in the 1950s.
- mixmax 17y agoI think that a lot of businessowners and accountants would disagree strongly about excel.
- varjag 17y agoThe business managed to get by with old paper books somehow until 1980s. Granted, VisiCalc and its clones gave a boost to productivity, but it is not ground breaking in same way the invention of lightbulb or construction of jet engine was.
- herdrick 17y agoNo, in aerospace he compared bleeding edge to bleeding edge.